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For a king of Scotland upon whom large amounts of material have
been written, from chronicles to poetry and drama, we know very
little about the historical figure who reigned in his native
country from 1040-1057. What we do know, however, must be regarded
with caution and only as deriving from the most reliable traditions
that we have access to. Facts are surely discernible within them,
but legends are traceable, even to almost the very earliest
documents. By the time we reach the work of Shakespeare, Macbeth’s
most famous “biographer”, fiction has become powerfully
predominant.

As far as we can tell, the man we now call Macbeth was the son
of “Findlaech” (d. 1020), who was the “mormaer” of Moray and Ross,
and Douda, …

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